Submission to Volunteering Australia – 2008

WHIN made a submission on women and volunteering to Volunteering Australia’s 2008 discussion paper, Towards a National Volunteer Strategy, to assist in progressing a National Volunteer Strategy. It was great to see that volunteering Australia included WHIN’s recommendation to consider gender in its strategy.

Abortion Information Paper

Women’s Health in the North’s (WHIN’s) submission contributed to statewide advocacy to decriminalise abortion in Victoria, which began with state MP Candy Broad’s 2007 introduction of a Private Member’s bill to decriminalise abortion. In response, Premier Brumby promised to decriminalise abortion and referred the issue to the Victorian Law Reform Commission. The Commission received a number of submissions and has, since then, submitted their recommendations to the Victorian State Government. In October 2008 the Victorian Parliament voted to decriminalise abortion.

Submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission, November 2007

In November 2007, The Key Centre for Women's Health in Society (University of Melbourne), The Royal Women's Hospital, Family Planning Victoria and Women's Health Victoria hosted a conference, Abortion in Victoria: Where are we now? Where do we want to go? Participants endorsed a document, Abortion in Victoria: The Melbourne Declaration.

Abortion in Victoria: The Melbourne Declaration – 2007

Women in Melbourne’s North: A Data Book for Program and Service Planning in Health – 2005

This resource brings together information about women’s lives to support health planners across Melbourne’s Northern region. The report includes demographic and health data drawn from a range of sources including the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001 Census of Population and Housing), the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset, the Victorian Burden of Disease Study, the Health Costs of Violence (VicHealth), Centrelink, and the Perinatal Data Collection Unit. The report is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in improving the health and wellbeing of women in their local area.

Copies are available free from WHIN on request. A small postage and handling fee applies. Contact WHIN on 03 9484 1666 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Exploring Community Connectedness for Women in Melbourne’s North – 2006

This is WHIN’s 2006 report on the relationship between community connectedness and initiatives to improve the health and wellbeing of women in Melbourne’s Northern metropolitan region. The report contains case studies of interventions such as a community action campaign to support geographically isolated women in the rural fringe areas of Melbourne’s north and a visiting pets program in which volunteers and their pets visited women in aged-care facilities.

Macedonian Women and Breast Cancer:  A Model of Psychosocial Support for Early Detection and Treatment

Australian Journal of Primary Health, Vol 11, No 3, 2005

This article by Katerina Aleksoska is reproduced with permission from the Australian Journal of Primary Health. It discusses key controversies surrounding the early detection, management and prevention of breast cancer as a backdrop to considering the psychosocial support needs of women living with breast cancer.  It also describes an innovative model, developed by WHIN in 2004, for women with the greatest need for support – in this case, Macedonian women in Melbourne’s Northern metropolitan region.

Women Tell Us the Issues

Health Issues Journal, Issue 84, Spring 2005

This article by Rosamaria Tascone discusses the issues women are concerned about as frequent users of the health care system.

Gender Planning Checklist – 2005

This resource is a program-planning tool aimed at improving the health outcomes of our communities by adopting a gender-sensitive approach. The resource offers a background to gender-sensitive perspectives and ‘A Quick Checklist for Gender Sensitive Planning’.

Grandmothering Across Cultures

A Model for Engaging Isolated Grandmothers and Providing Health Programs, June 2004

This is a step-by-step guide suitable for establishing a project for grandmothers or as a reference point for seeking innovative ideas on how to resource grandmothers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

Voices Against Violence: Women’s Lives, Women’s Health

Conference Transcript, June 2004

This transcript captures the proceedings of the ‘Voices Against Violence’ conference which was held as part of the international ‘16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women’ campaign in December 2003. The conference explored the health impacts of violence against women for young, middle-aged and older women.

Postnatal Depression in Whittlesea

A Discussion Paper, March 2003

This discussion paper investigates and examines information about postnatal depression and the scope of the issue in the city fringe area of Whittlesea.

What About Pap Tests for Women with Mental Illness?

This 2002 resource was developed to enhance service delivery to women with psychiatric disabilities by linking community-based mental health services with well-women’s services.

Enterprising Women, Whittlesea: Women’s Micro Finance Project

Pilot Project Design – 2002

This project was designed to explore the potential of micro finance to practically assist and empower – through skills development, sharing with other women, confidence building and education – newly arrived and migrant women in the Whittlesea area.

Feasibility Study – 2002

This is the feasibility study and design of the Micro Finance pilot project.

Final Evaluation Report – 2004

The Women’s Micro Finance Project was a joint action-research pilot project between WHIN and Kildonan Child and Family Services. The pilot project (July 2003 – June 2004) was ground breaking in that no similar projects were known to exist within Australia. The aim was to pilot a no-interest, credit-based loan system to support the development of micro enterprises by a small group of women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.